Wyatville, Sir Jeffry (1766–1840). English architect, born Wyatt, the son of Joseph Wyatt (1739–85). He was apprenticed to his uncle, Samuel, and showed early promise as a draughtsman. In 1792 he joined the office of his uncle James, leaving in 1799 to set up in partnership with John Armstrong (d. 1803), a building-contractor in Pimlico, London. By the 1820s he had become a highly successful country-house architect (unlike his Uncle James he was thorough, reliable, and highly professional), and in 1824 began work for King George IV (1820–30) at Windsor Castle, Berks., not completed until 1837. He raised the keep, battlemented and machicolated the towers, and converted the old fortress into a residence for the Sovereign. He virtually rebuilt the Upper Ward with a new George IV Gateway, reconstructed the State Apartments on the north side around a new staircase (replaced by Salvin in 1866), and built new apartments on the east (garden) side. The Picturesque appearance of the Castle today is largely due to Wyatville, who was knighted in 1828 (he had been permitted to call himself ‘Wyatville’ from 1824). An account of his works at Windsor (in which he was assisted by Baud) was published in Illustrations of Windsor Castle by the Late Sir Jeffry Wyatville (1841).

Most of his country-houses were in Picturesque Tudor Gothic or Tudorbethan modes, and he could design in the Grecian style. Among his works were the County Gaol, Abingdon, Berkshire (1805–11), the completion of and additions to Ashridge Park, Herts. (c.1814–17–Gothic), the Brownlow Mortuary Chapel at Belton Church, Lincs. (1816), major alterations and additions, including the library, north wing, tower, and various estate buildings at Chatsworth, Derbyshire (1820–41), the remodelling of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (1821–2 and 1831–2—Tudor Gothic), extensions to the castellated Fort Belvedere, Windsor Great Park, Berks. (1828–9), and many other building works.

Bibliography

Colvin (1995);
Linstrum (1972);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004);
J. Robinson (1979)